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Hello Devyn,<br>
<br>
Your enthusiasm is really great and we really appreciate you wanting
to get involved in the Linux Australia community.<br>
<br>
I think one of the large hesitations the council has with the
proposal is that the returned benefit isn't unique. There are plenty
of websites buying for the news space and it's not obvious how this
one would be set apart to make it successful or attractive to
readers or a good use of our funds.<br>
<br>
This (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:linux-aus@linux.org.au">linux-aus@linux.org.au</a>) is a discussion list for our members.
One of the reason we ask for grant requests to be posted to this
list is to get the insight and support from the wider community.<br>
<br>
I would like to see some more discussion and feedback from our
members as to what they would like to see happen. If it is something
our community is interested in, it would be great to see some more
thoughts and brainstorming around how it would look if it were to
proceed.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Josh<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 08/06/15 06:55, Devyn Collier
Johnson wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:5574AFCF.1020001@Gmail.com" type="cite">
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Aloha!<br>
<br>
Thank you Joshua Hesketh for your detailed response. The reason
I chose $25USD is because I did not think the Linux Australia
Community would be fine granting me a larger sum. Plus, I
personally know two people that write articles for an organization
for $25USD per article (hence my price idea). If the Linux
Australia Community is fine with granting me a larger sum, then I
will pay authors what ever the community wishes. My original grant
request can be modified as the community sees fit.<br>
<br>
True, I am the primary author of my site, but not the only
author. That is another goal I hope this grant might fix. Since
ads have not worked well and donations are scarce, a grant would
help pay authors. Thus, with more authors and more content, I hope
to attract more visitors.<br>
<br>
Alternately, what about a major modification to the plan? The
Linux Australia Community can find Australian computer technology
students (like in universities/colleges) and pay the student
directly. This new plan has the following advantages:<br>
<br>
1. specifically helps Australia (the students)<br>
2. community money is better protected from scams (money goes
from the community to the community-chosen authors)<br>
3. students gain money (college students need this), experience,
and details to add to a resume<br>
4. the whole world still benefits from the written articles<br>
5. the community can decide the pay-rate per article and choose
whether this project is temporary or long-term<br>
<br>
I am willing to modify the plan as needed to get your approval.
Specifically, my core desire is to help humanity and
bootstrap/trigger some collaboration between me website and the
Linux community. Let me know what you think of the modified plan
or if someone has a better idea or suggestion.<br>
<br>
By the way, I updated my website's appearance a little and
optimized the CSS3.<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Devyn Collier Johnson<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:DevynCJohnson@Gmail.com">DevynCJohnson@Gmail.com</a><br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 06/01/2015 07:44 AM, Joshua
Hesketh wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:556C45A8.502@nitrotech.org" type="cite">
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http-equiv="Content-Type">
Hello Devyn,<br>
<br>
The linux-aus list (to which this thread is on) is a great place
to seek contributions and collaboration with the Linux Australia
community. Feel free to start a new thread with what that might
look like, otherwise hopefully keen onlookers will have noticed
this already :-).<br>
<br>
Some of the reasons the grant request wasn't successful is that
there are a number of news sites dedicated to open source and
free software already. The content also isn't specific to
Australia - while this isn't a blocker, it was a consideration
when looking at how we fund projects in our local community.
Additionally there is a lot of great posts on your website and
forums, the overwhelming majority[0] were from only one
contributor (yourself). I understand there is a bootstrapping
issue that funding could help with, however the website isn't an
overly active community and the council was unable to see what
funding your request would do to create a unqiue website or
source of information outside of other online communities that
already exist. Lastly the council did not feel $25 per article
was on par with industry expectations for authors/journalists[1]
and we were unsure how you would attract contributors at this
rate.<br>
<br>
It was an accumulation of factors that the council used in their
decision making. The decision should not by any means be taken
as a form of discouragement. Your website and articles are an
excellent way of contributing to the open source community and
we'd like to encourage you to continue. We hope that your
website will find a niche and develop its own community over
time.<br>
<br>
Again feel free to contact the council on or off list if you
have any further questions.<br>
<br>
Kind regards,<br>
Josh<br>
<br>
[0] Please correct me if I'm wrong, this is from a simple
browsing of dcjtech.info<br>
[1] Again, please correct me if I'm wrong<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 29/05/15 05:01, Devyn Johnson
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAOi1rqY=DOWnO1+TGo1PztUbd=Heq2Nwfa-hmTm5wVLuCqT9WA@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> Aloha!<br>
<br>
The website (DCJTech.info) benefits Linux users of all
nations by providing forums, articles, etc. The website is
non-profit and wishes to hire authors. The Linux
Australian Community can benefit by selecting a few
authors of its choosing in addition to the authors I have
found. Why do you feel that the grant request "is outside
the values of Linux Australia and its membership"? What
are your concerns? I can modify the request and ease
concerns if you wish. If Chris would like, I can fix any
flaws that he has found. Let him know that he is welcome
to contact me directly. I can also list the "Linux
Australian Community" as part of the DCJTech crew (<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://dcjtech.info/about-the-crew/"
target="_blank">http://dcjtech.info/about-the-crew/</a>).
With the DCJTech forums, articles, quizzes, cheatsheets,
and all of the other content, we have many ways of
collaborating and benefiting the Linux community. Even if
my grant request is still rejected, can we all at least
still collaborate and work together? Any one at the Linux
Australian Community is welcome to be members of the
DCJTech crew.<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Devyn Collier Johnson<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:DevynCJohnson@Gmail.com" target="_blank">DevynCJohnson@Gmail.com</a><br>
<br>
<div>On 05/28/2015 12:27 AM, Joshua Hesketh wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"> Hello Devyn,<br>
<br>
Thank you for reaching out to our community. The council
has discussed your grant request and moved the following
motion:<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>Grant
request from DEVYN COLLIER JOHNSON</span></p>
</li>
<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>DCJTech
- Creating Jobs and Articles</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>CHRIS
moves motion to reject this grant request
for the reason that this is outside the
values of Linux Australia and its membership</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>Seconded
by JOSH S</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr"><span>Passes with 2 abstentions</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<br>
Unfortunately the council has decided not to fund your
grant request as the benefit to the Linux Australia
community was not clear. If you would like to know more
feel free to reach out to us either on or off list.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Josh<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>On 17/04/15 06:47, Devyn Collier Johnson wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">Date: April 16, 2015 <br>
<br>
Project Name: DCJTech - Creating Jobs and Articles <br>
<br>
Aim of Project: DCJTech (<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://dcjtech.info/" target="_blank">http://dcjtech.info/</a>)
wants to create jobs by hiring authors to write
informative/technical articles about Linux, GNU,
FreeBSD, and other open-source-related topics. I
currently have an author that can be hired immediately
and two others that are considering the offer. Once
the Linux Australia Council approves the project, I
will seek more authors (I want four or five total).
The amount paid to an author will depend on the
content they submit ($25USD for a 700-1000 word
article). Information about DCJTech can be found at <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://dcjtech.info/about/" target="_blank">http://dcjtech.info/about/</a>
. DCJTech does not receive enough money from ads or
donations to hire authors. Your contribution will
enable me to hire authors and increase DCJTech's
content. I have no problem showing proof of
transactions. I can send you screenshots of relevant
PayPal transactions and give you links to new content.
Also, I have no problem hiring members of the Linux
Australia Council to be authors. Feel free to email me
asking for more details or clarification. <br>
<br>
Person Responsible for Request: Devyn Collier Johnson
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:DevynCJohnson@Gmail.com"
target="_blank"><DevynCJohnson@Gmail.com></a>
<br>
<br>
Request: $500 (amount may be modified as the Linux
Australia Council see fit) <br>
_______________________________________________ <br>
committee mailing list <br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:committee@lists.linux.org.au"
target="_blank">committee@lists.linux.org.au</a> <br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.linux.org.au/mailman/listinfo/committee"
target="_blank">http://lists.linux.org.au/mailman/listinfo/committee</a>
<br>
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